Leak in LPG cylinder? Dial 1906 starting from New Year

Cooking gas consumers would be able to dial a uniform four-digit emergency response number throughout the country from Friday to seek help in case of a leakage, much on the lines calling ‘100’ for police, firebrigade or ambulance.TNN | December 31, 2015, 13:08 IST

NEW DELHI: Cooking gas consumers would be able to dial a uniform four-digit emergency response number throughout the country from Friday to seek help in case of a leakage, much on the lines calling '100' for police, firebrigade or ambulance.

The new emergency number, 1906, is the outcome of a clutch of major initiatives taken by oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan to modernise the domestic LPG (liquefied petroleum gas supplied in cylinders) market. Pradhan is scheduled to launch the emergency response system on Friday.

TOI had on August 21 first reported that state-run fuel retailers were working on implementing a new emergency response number. The initiative was prompted by an incident in April. A young working woman in Delhi tweeted her disappointment over poor response time -- due to a technical issue regarding the number, as it later turned out -- to her complaint of a leakage.

Responding to the tweet, the PMO asked Pradhan to look into the issue. The minister called up the woman to figure out the issue and later asked the oil companies to simplify the emergency response system with a nationwide three-digit number.

The four-digit number is being implemented after the telecom system could not offer a three-digit number. The present emergency response system has a 10-digit number for many cities, which is difficult to remember. The new number is meant only for complaints regarding leakage.

The new system would ask a caller for choice of language and connect to a call centre. The call centre wold then take details, locate and activate the nearest dealer who would rush technicians to the distressed consumer.

Pradhan has taken several measures to improve consumer response from state-run retailers. In August, he launched a web-based system for selling new LPG connections and cooking hobs (stoves). He single-mindedly drove the direct LPG subsidy benefit scheme, called PaHAL, into the Guinness record as the world's biggest cash benefit transfer plan.